Apostrophe of Time

[zankoku_zen]

The overwhelming incalculability of space, the glow and fade of countless days, the starry expanse of night. A scent that reaches into eternity and towards forever: glittering bergamot, lemon peel, and golden amber, star-flecked labdanum, neroli, and clary sage.

[starbrow]

Look at all those beautiful notes! To convince myself I *needed* this blend out of all the activisms, I whipped up a diffuser blend with these notes as close as I could get it, and it was very beautiful. I took the plunge into the Apostophe of Time.

 

The bottle sniff is murky but promising. Onto the skin it goes. My brow furrows in confusion. All I smell is...oakmoss. Big-ass, cologney, smug oakmoss. The more it sits, the more I recognize the lemon peel from one of my old favorites, Dead Leaves Cream Amber and Lemon Peel HG. In fact, these two would pair very well together. It's a pithy lemon, without the recognizably bright citrus that can scare some people off. But mainly....oakmoss. I really don't get any bergamot, amber, certainly no resiny or cola-y labdanum, none of my beloved neroli/orange blossom, and clary sage is not here for this party.

 

Apostrophe of Time is for unabashed, whole-hearted oakmoss lovers. I am rather distressed at the secret oakmoss and how it takes over in this blend, because it is a headachey note for me and it means this blend is not for me, but I am very happy for all the oakmoss fans out there that you will have a great option that also supports a great cause. Quite gender-neutral, as long as you love....well, you know the drill by now. If there are any concerning notes listed, I really wouldn't be scared. Just ignore that list and go with your gut. Do you want BIG-ASS oakmoss? Put an Apostrophe on it!

[Lucchesa]

I had a very different experience from starbrow.  On me, Apostrophe of Time is mostly neroli.  I can smell the sage and the lemon peel, but the neroli overwhelms the bergamot, the amber and the labdanum.  So on me, this is big-ass neroli, with undertones of lemon and clary sage, and the throw was all neroli.  It lasted about half a day before needing refreshing.  

Edited July 30, 2020 by Lucchesa

[Okupsidedown]

Apostrophe of Time

 

In the bottle: Little woodsy, little lemon peel.

 

Wet: LEMON! It's the good lemon peel lemon, though. The kind that it almost spicy, and goes nicely with the woody note I'm getting. I'm guessing the sort of round, sweet note is the neroli? Don't have enough blends with it to know that's what I'm smelling. I never can smell BPAL's bergamot, which is so sad. It always makes for lovely blends, though.

 

Dry down: Is it fading? Lemme drink some coffee, hold up. Ooooooo there we go! Amber! I amp BPAL's amber 50% of the time. This is one of those times, and it's a good thing! More coffee, I keep losing the scent, it's weird. Oomph! Amber with gorgeous, glittering citrus notes. Wood has faded, but is still kiiiiiiiinda there. Why am I getting a faint impression of cocoa? I don't know, it's BPAL.

 

Dry: Nary a sage to be smelled in the whole process, even after coffee cleanser and concentrated sniffing. Wood is still gone, but woody notes tend to resurrect HOURS later, so I'll come back if it does. Am getting a sort of sharp note now? Maybe the sage has finally decided to show up? Yeah, I think that might be what's happening.

 

Conclusion: Amber and citrus forward with whispering suggestions of wood and sage adding depth. Gender neutral.

[Juliamon]

Something in this is going ever so slightly funky on me and it's got me VERY confused. All the notes are ones I'm familiar with and have never experienced this from (I almost always get along with neroli so I can't even blame it on the floral element) so I can only imagine it's an unlisted musk? If the rest of the scent was phenomenal I'd overlook it, but unfortunately it's just nice. A fizzy bergamot opening with a soft slightly-resinous drydown with maybe a hint of sage if I squint. Not worth the sweaty tang accompanying it.

[Ythik]

On initial application this was strongly neroli with a bit of bergamot to it. I never really got any lemon. It briefly felt like there was something a little smoky behind the front notes but I can't seem to find that again. Now the citrus has faded and it's pretty strongly neroli with a kind of sharp green edge (maybe the clary sage?) to it. As it dries further, I can feel it start to move a bit into that fuzzy labdanum smell, but the neroli is still the most prominent note for me.

 

About an hour in, this stays primarily neroli on my skin with a bit of the fuzzy smell from the labdanum. Still haven't really gotten the amber from it.

Edited September 11, 2020 by Ythik

[zankoku_zen]

Neroli, amber, sweet citrus top notes. This one is mainly an orange blossom sort of blend on my skin.

[a_bear]

For me, this perfectly captures the inspiration, dark and deep, but also bright and glittery. Neroli is the most prominent note, though the amber was also strong when I tried it in warmer weather. Overall, a fancy woody citrus blend. A little bit goes a long way.

[bambi]

In the bottle, this smells of amber and something SHARP. Probably the lemon peel. After application, the amber disappears, and I can smell lemon and the clary sage. It's not as sharp as it was in the bottle. After several minutes, the amber makes a gentle comeback, leaving me with a soft, glittery, herbal citrus. I agree that it's quite strong, so not something I'd slather on. 

[Thursdae]

Really love this. To me, it comes across as a very well blended cologne. I can't pick out individual notes like lemon peel, just a smooth and vibrant, unisex fragrance. After the first flush fades, I feel like there's sandalwood or something woodsy, or maybe that's just my expectations of something in the fougère family.

[LavenderCoffee]

In the bottle the bergamot and lemon peel crowd their way to the top, but on the wand and applied to my skin, the neroli jumps right out.

As it warms and begins to dry on my skin, the golden amber and spicy neroli notes really shine, with lemon bergamot sparkling around the edges. I do get a trace of the labdanum in the form of some soft resiny sweetness, and there is an herbal quality that could be the clary sage, but neither of these notes are very strong. 

Dry, the neroli remains most prominent, and the lemon peel has become softer. The throw on this is more polite than I expected, but I usually apply neroli blends in small doses. 

 

The phrase "the glow and fade of countless days" is so perfect for this blend. 

[forspecial_plate]

I agree this has a very oakmossy vibe - maybe it's something happening with the neroli and sage?  I thought it was a pretty safe bet for me based on the notes, but it's doing the "70's/80's hairy chest aftershave" thing on me, which sometimes happens with oakmoss and that's why I started avoiding that note.  Not sure what happened here but this isn't working for me.  (It's ok though, I have lots of other citrus/neroli scents I like)

[ShadowEtienne]

On my skin, the citrus in this is very much the oils of the peels, lemon and bergamot both. They're gently mingling with the floral of the neroli, in a way that definitely shows the continuum of different citrus (fruit and flower).

 

The herbal sage is a notable component that I'm realizing is a note I really like! It's a fresh warm herbal backed by the resinous elements from the amber and labdanum. It blends so nicely with the floral citrus.

 

In general, herbal-floral-citrus is a hit for me, and this is certainly not an exception to that. I currently have a decant from a friend, may need to upgrade that to a bottle at some point.